TORONTO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce said on Thursday it expects loan losses to
increase as the oil price slump impacts energy clients, and
warned they could double if Canada went into recession.

Chief Risk Officer Laura Dottori-Attanasio made the forecast
after CIBC posted a first-quarter profit that topped market
expectations, with growth in retail and business banking
offsetting losses from oil sector loans that turned sour.

"If we went into a recessionary-type environment we could
see ourselves doubling our loan losses," Dottori-Attanasio told
analysts on a conference call on Thursday.

CIBC joined rivals Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of
Montreal in reporting increased losses from impaired
loans in the oil and gas sector. Dottori-Attanasio said that
trend was likely to continue.

"We are seeing this quarter a lot of downgrades in the oil
and gas space, an increase in delinquencies. Our expectation
would be to see increased loan loss provisions on a go-forward
basis," she said.
Continued...